Bruised

He wrapped his arms around me gently. I tried to suppress the frown that came to my place. Another day, another bruise, a different place.

“What’s wrong, Bay?” he whispered gently in my ear.

I loved when he called me that. I loved his smile. His laugh. The way he made me feel. I loved him.

“Nothing. Just tired,” I said with a fake yawn.

He shrugged his shoulders to my obviously fake response and turned back to the movie.

Can’t you hear me calling out for help?

I zoned out through the whole movie and wondered what my punishment would be when I got home. I’m never supposed to stay out passed sun down. It’s been two hours since then. I hadn’t even realized that the movie had finished and jumped when Landon started to talk to me.

“Ready to go home?” he said with a smile.

I shook my head with a frown. He laughed and kissed my forehead gently before grabbing my hand and leading me towards the door.

Once we were both in the car, he drove in the direction of my house and grabbed my hand over the center console. The ride seemed shorter than usual as I watched the landscape just beyond the glass. I felt as if it was mocking me at times. How could it be so beautiful when I couldn’t?

He pulled into my driveway and looked towards the house. The lights were all off. That was never a good sign. Although Landon seemed to think differently as he thought this meant no one was up. It just meant a longer punishment for me because I knew he would be lurking around the house once I got in.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning, babe.”

I nodded my head and tried not to look as if I was walking towards the electric chair.

“Bailey, what’s wrong? Did I upset you? What’s going on?” he asked as he grabbed my wrist over console.

“Nothing. You didn’t do anything. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I stated, more to myself than him.

He leaned over and kissed me gently before I got out of the car and headed to my own personal hell.

Once I unlocked the door with my key, I started to tip toe towards the stairs. Halfway there, I thought that maybe Landon was right and that he had gone to bed. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Not two seconds after I thought that, I got hit over the back of the head with something hard. I couldn’t really tell what it was. I immediately fell to the floor and covered my head with my arms, trying to protect myself before he punched me in the face. Nothing unusual about this night.

“You useless little cunt. How dare you stay out passed your curfew! Why in the fuck do you think you can disobey me? I own you!” he said for the millionth time. This time was too far and I went over the edge.

“You’re calling me useless?!? You’re the one who sits around here all day like a big fat fuck and does nothing! So what if you’re fucking my mom! Who isn’t! You don’t own me! You don’t even fucking know my middle name! How dare you think that this is okay! I’m sorry that you couldn’t control your life and now feel the need to control mine! I can’t believe that I’ve put up with your shit for this long! You’re such a waste of space! Burn in hell!” I yelled at him.

I could feel my face begin to heat up and I couldn’t help but let the tears start to run down my face.

He started to charge at me with what I now know was a metal baseball bat. Just as he was about to swing, the front door burst open and I saw the same mop of brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes that I had just left.

“Landon. What are you doing here? You need to leave!” I shouted as my mom’s boyfriend swung the bat. It connected with my left shoulder and I grabbed onto it as tight as I could.

Landon’s face turned as red as a tomato as he pounced at that useless piece of shit. Before I could even say or scream anything, Landon had already broken the douche’s nose. Blood was seeping off of his face and onto the carpeting as he regained his composure. Landon kicked the bat away and grabbed my waist before dashing out the door.

“Why do you even protect her? Why even try to keep her around? She’s just a whore like her mother. Take her. I don’t want her anyway. I’ve already fucked her. Might as well move on to the next little teenage whore,” my mom’s boyfriend said.

“Why protect her? Because she’s incredible. She’s more valuable than you will ever be you useless dick! How could you not see the beautiful girl standing here!?! I will take her away and she will never come back. You’re not worth the time of day!” Landon said before charging at him again.

I tried to grab him so we could just leave, but he wouldn’t have it. Landon punched him in the gut right away and then began kicking him and hitting him anywhere that he could find on his body.

“Landon! Please! Let’s just go!” I said as tears continued to race down my face.

Landon heard the shakiness in my voice and came over to me. We walked back out into his car and got in silently. He started up the car and drove until we were parked outside his house.

“I’m so sorry, Landon. I never meant for you to find out about this,” I said while sticking my face into my hands.

“Baby! Please stop this! You should have told me a long time ago! And you don’t need to be apologizing. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for not figuring it out sooner. I’m so sorry, Bay. I love you so much. I never want to see someone touch you again.”

“I-I love you, too.”

That was the only response I could come up with.

Landon helped me inside his house and let me take a long bath before handing me some of his clothes to wear.

“Tomorrow, we’ll go shopping for some new clothes for you,” he said while wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Why?”

“Because, Bailey, you’re never going back there. I promise. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”

And he kept that promise. It’s been forty years since then and never once has Landon even began to waver on his promise.